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Stay Out For Freedom; Live Broadcast; Live Broadcast [2 of 4]

In 1964, despite a year of sustained efforts by the NAACP, parents, and other civil rights activists, the Boston Public Schools remained racially segregated. Citizens for Human Rights (CHR), the group that organized the Bostons successful 1963 Stay Out for Freedom, led by Reverend James Breeden and Noel Day, evolved into the Massachusetts Freedom Movement (MFM). MFM organized another Stay Out campaign for February 26, 1964; over 10,000 children attended the MFM Freedom Schools in 35 locations throughout Boston. The 1964 Stay Out, however, was also part of an emerging a national school boycott movement against segregated schools in the North that included similar demonstrations in New York, Chicago, Cleveland, and Milwaukee. The WGBH-FM program, 1964 Stay Out for Freedom- Live Broadcast, is a recording of the afternoon activities at the Freedom School located at the St. Marks Social Center, directed by Principal, Betty Richardson. Live Broadcast begins with the keynote address by Rev. James Bevel, Member of the Executive Committee, Southern Christian Leadership Conference in which he discusses nonviolent direct action; FBI surveillance of civil rights organizations; student activism; political education; and voter registration and education. In the next segment of 1964 Stay Out For Freedom- Live Broadcast, WGBH-FM broadcasts one of the actual Student Discussion Groups, moderated by Peggy Dammond Day, Director of Curriculum Development for the Freedom Schools and Alan Gartner, Director of the Boston Chapter of CORE. The group included high school students from the City of Boston and suburban towns. This segment offered WGBH-FM listeners an opportunity to hear the students, both Black and White, discuss their ideas regarding issues of de facto segregation, class, gender, discrimination in housing, the lack of employment and higher education opportunities; and methods of social change, from their own perspective. Summary and select metadata for this record was submitted by Audrea Dunham.
Morning session. Portions of these recordings of the morning and afternoon sessions of Stay Out For Freedom were removed by LED and used in the following programs: Freedom Stay-Out: What Happened This Morning Freedom Stay-Out: What Happened This Afternoon Freedom Stay-Out: What Happens Next?

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